I was grateful for the opportunity for my mom and I to go visit my sister, Karen. As we drove, we talked about our favorite Twilight Zone episodes. (Don’t admit you remember that TV program–it was too long ago!). Hers is when the main character only wants to read but people keep bothering him, interrupting him. Some disaster happens and he’s the last person alive. With joy, he realizes he can read undisturbed! But through some accident, (I think) he steps on his glasses and breaks them. Horrors! Now he can’t read. Oh the irony. Given the opportunity of his heart’s desire but then he can’t do it.
My mother could relate. She said, “When I was a young mom with three kids, I longed for the time to read. Now, I have all the time alone to read and I’d rather be with people and you kids!”
Oh, we should each be careful what we ask for. We can set up something as being our “heart’s desire” and when we get it, we find out it’s not as fulfilling as we thought.
I’m still thinking through whether this really applies but as I read Isaiah 3:16, it seemed like it could. “The Lord said: ‘Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet…'” The ESV Bible/The Reformation Study Bible has this commentary: “They live to the fullest at the expense of others. The ornaments are meant to impress others, to provide cash in case of an emergency, and to supply magical protection from sudden disaster. This outward adornment reflects an inner attitude of pride.”
Maybe trying to get our own “heart’s desires” met in our own way, thinking that will bring satisfaction, makes us like these “daughter of Zion.” They thought the little gold coins around their feet protected them. Their heart’s desire was to make sure life went the way they wanted. And obviously, then God isn’t needed.
Let’s make sure we don’t make our own “heart’s desires” into “coins around our ankles.” Isaiah 3:18 says, “In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets…” What they craved, was taken away.
Or in our application here, what we crave will be given to us, but it won’t give the satisfaction and joy we thought it would.
When my kids grew up and even as they were growing up, I knew I’d made a lot of mistakes. I sometimes thought, “If only I could have a chance to do it over again.” Well, today, God has given me my heart’s desire in a slightly different frame: I and Larry care for his mom who has dementia and lives in our home. It’s like taking care of a child who sometimes brings back the same kind of opportunities I had when our kids were young.
My heart’s desire! Be careful what you ask for! 🙂